Record High 60k Point Bonus for Citi ThankYou Premier

The Citi ThankYou Premier Card is now offering 60,000 bonus ThankYou Points after $4,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening. For the majority of 2016 the ThankYou Premier had no sign up bonus whatsoever, then Citi came back with 40k points for a $3k minimum spending requirement bonus in December 2016. Since then we’ve seen the bonus fluctuate between non-existent to typically no higher than 50k. 60,000 ThankYou Points is the biggest bonus the card has ever offered. With no annual fee the first year and lucrative category bonuses, there is no doubt you should scoop it up if you haven’t opened or closed a Citi ThankYou Prestige, Premier, or Preferred in the last 24 months. If you have, you’ll need to wait until 24 months pass to be eligible for the bonus.

Quick Facts

Sign Up Bonus: 60,000 ThankYou Points after spending $4,000 within three months of account opening

Category Bonuses: 3x on travel and gas, 2x on restaurants and entertainment

Value of ThankYou Points: Worth 1.25 cents toward the purchase of any cash ticket OR can be transferred to 15 airlines for higher value (I value ThankYou points at 1.9 cents each when transferred this way)

Global Acceptance: Chip technology and no foreign transaction fees

Annual Fee: $95 that is waived the first year of card membership

Eligibility: If you have opened or closed a ThankYou Prestige, Premier, or Preferred in the last 24 months you are not eligible for the sign up bonus.

Sign Up Bonus

The Citi ThankYou Premier Card now offers 60,000 bonus ThankYou Points after $4,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening.

Thank You points have two primary uses.

Use them like cash to purchase any flight on any airline with no blackouts.

Transfer them to miles with 15 airline loyalty programs. Then they are whatever miles you chose, subject to those rules.

If you use these like cash toward any flight, you will get 1.25 cents each of value, making the sign up bonus worth $750 toward any flights with no blackouts. And when you redeem ThankYou Points like cash toward any flight, the operating airline sees you as a cash-paying passenger, so you earn miles for your flights.

Instead of redeeming the points like cash, you can also transfer your ThankYou Points to one of the 15 airline partners and one hotel partner.

Getting Outsized Value by Transferring to Loyalty Programs

When you redeem points like cash towards flight, you are getting a fixed value for them: 1.25 cents each. By transferring to airline loyalty program partners, you can take advantage of sweetspots on award charts (most airline mileage programs award charts are determined by which regions you are flying between, or sometimes the distance you fly, as opposed to the cash price of the ticket) and often get a much higher value per point by redeeming your points as airline miles on international and premium cabin awards. ThankYou points transfer 1:1 to the following 15 loyalty programs:

If you applied for this card within the last 90 days when it still had the 50k bonus offer, call Citi to match to the higher 60k offer.

If you signed up for lower sign up offer within the last 90 days, Citi has a pretty good track record of matching sign up bonuses to what’s currently available. Call the number on the back of your card or send a secure message through your online account, the sooner the better.

Category Bonuses

The Citi ThankYou Premier Card offers 3x ThankYou Points on travel and gas and 2x ThankYou Points on dining and entertainment, with no limit on bonus ThankYou Points earned.

Offering both 3x on travel and gas is incredible for travelers. Throw in 2x on dining and entertainment, and this card has among the best categories out of all travel rewards card, especially for a low annual fee like $95 (which is actually waived the first year).

Fees

The Citi ThankYou Premier Card has no foreign transaction fees. It also has chip technology for global acceptance, so it’s a great card for overseas travel.

The card has a $95 annual fee, but it is waived for the first 12 months.

Eligibility

The ThankYou Premier is subject to Citi’s sign up bonus rule, which is that you are only eligible to earn a sign up bonus if you haven’t opened or closed a card from the same type (brand or co-brand) within the last 24 months. So if you have opened or closed another Citi Premier, a Prestige, or a Preferred card in the last two years you cannot earn the 50,000 ThankYou Point sign up bonus.

Also, keep these general Citi rules in mind that apply to all consumer Citi credit cards:

You can apply for no more than one consumer Citi card in an eight day period. If you want two Citi cards, get them on days 1 and 9.

You can apply for no more than two consumer Citi cards in a 65 day period. If you want three Citi cards, get them on days 1, 9, and 66.

Bottom Line

I’m happy to see an increase in the sign up bonus for any card, and it’s even better when it’s for a card with great benefits like the ThankYou Premier. You can redeem these 60k points for $750 worth of paid flights, or potentially for a much higher value by transferring to an airline partner for redemption on international and premium cabin award flights. I value ThankYou Points at 1.9 cents each when transferred to airline partners, making the bonus worth roughly ~$1,140 . This is as good as I’ve seen the bonus get for the ThankYou Premier. It’s previous record high was 50k for the same $4,000 within three months minimum spending requirement.

If you haven’t opened or closed a Premier, Prestige, or Preferred card in the last 24 months, then you should seriously consider signing up for this card. It’s got a lot to offer for free the first year, and for a relatively small price tag after that.

Editorial Disclaimer: The editorial content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuers. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of the credit card issuers, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuers.

The comments section below is not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all questions are answered.

Sarah Page Maxwell became a miles nerd after moving her base to Buenos Aires and beginning a transient lifestyle that would be otherwise too expensive without miles and points. In addition to travel, her other passions include hot sauce, yoga, and her boston terrier Omar.

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Sarah Page Maxwell is a miles aficionado and avid traveler, born in Virginia, raised in North Carolina, and currently based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She has earned and redeemed millions of miles for herself and others. Traveling for free, the 29-year-old has been to 20+ countries, making sure to catch as many sunsets in each that she can.

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Many of the credit card offers that appear on this site are from credit card companies from which MileValue.com receives compensation if you are approved. Compensation impacts placement of cards on the credit card page and banner placement, but does not on the articles posted on MileValue.com. This site does not include all credit card offers available in the marketplace.

Many of the credit card offers that appear on this site are from credit card companies from which MileValue.com receives compensation if you are approved. Compensation impacts placement of cards on the credit card page and banner placement, but does not on the articles posted on MileValue.com. This site does not include all credit card offers available in the marketplace.